Looking for a place to take a walk? Think about the cemetery. Cemeteries are quiet, they have roads to stroll on, you’re not scrambling out of traffic, the settings are usually pleasant, and you can do some bird watching at the same time, or maybe connect with history.

PLEASANT VALLEY CEMETERY outside Hammondsport goes back to the 1790s, but the star “attraction” is Glenn Curtiss. Until quite recently there were still people living who had attended Glenn’s burial in 1930, or taken part in the 10-plane flyover. He repeatedly pushed American aviation to higher levels than anyone expected, before dying at 52.

ELMWOOD CEMETERY in Caton has Steuben County’s first Civil War memorial, a short obelisk. BATH NATIONAL CEMETERY has a tall obelisk while NONDAGA in Bath has a monument and flagpole. There are Civil War statues at CLEARVIEW (North Cohocton) and HORNELL RURAL CEMETERY, and a Civil War cannon at HOPE (Campbell).

One section of Bath National is dedicated to 18 unknown soldiers from the War of 1812, found in Canada and reinterred with joint honors by both nations. Also while you’re at Bath National – look at all the religious and philosophical symbols now authorized on military headstones – a far cry from the formerly ubiquitous Roman cross, with an occasional Star of David thrown in.

WOODLAWN NATIONAL CEMETERY in Elmira is the resting place for many Confederate soldiers who died in the “Hellmira” prison camp. The civilian portion of Woodlawn includes the graves of Underground Railroad leader John Jones, Heisman Trophy winner Ernie Davis, and Samuel L. Clemens, whose gravestone measures two fathoms – Mark Twain.

ST. MARY’S CEMETERY in Corning includes a monumental arch that honors 19 men and boys, mostly glassworkers from Corning, killed in an Ohio train crash in 1891. HOPE CEMETERY ANNEX in Corning has a sweeping terraced space where members of the Houghton family are buried. (It looks at first like Albert Speer designed a Japanese garden, but it actually works.)

From Canisteo’s WOODLAWN CEMETERY you can enjoy the “living sign,” but scrounge around a little and you may find two stones inscribed “K.K.K.” a hundred years ago, by people who thought that joining the Ku Klux Klan was something to be proud of.

Within living memory sheep used to graze in PRATTSBURGH PIONEER CEMETERY, as a way of keeping the grass cut. PIONEER CEMETERY in Bath goes back to 1793, the first year of the community’s existence, when founder Charles Williamson buried his six year-old daughter who died of Genesee fever (probably malaria).

At TOWNSEND-ERWIN CEMETERY you can visit the gravestone of Benjamin Patterson (from Patterson Inn fame). But you’re not necessarily visiting “Hunter Patterson,” since the place has been flooded so often, and stones so often washed out of place, that nobody’s sure whether many of them are still where they started out. Even so, it’s a lovely setting.

The jewel of cemeteries for our region is, of course, 200-acre MOUNT HOPE in Rochester. It’s a good place to walk while you’re taking a break from visiting at Strong Hospital, or Highland Hospital. It’s the final resting place for luminaries such as freedom fighters Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, newspaper tycoon Frank Gannett, numerous Strongs, many Rochesters, Mr. Bausch AND Mr. Lomb, and Seth Green, the father of pisciculture.

Think about wandering your cemetery. It may help you find your place in the web of life.